


mouth and lips

by foxerica (ericaismeg)



Series: rare ships [43]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 22:29:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10649373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericaismeg/pseuds/foxerica
Summary: Lydia comes in looking for a new puppy.





	mouth and lips

Cora flips through her magazine that her older brother bought her a few days ago. She opens her mouth in an unattractive yawn, kicking her feet up on the counter. Usually, the beginning of the week is slow at the shelter. She spent her morning sitting in the back playing with all the puppies and kitties. She took care of them - feeding, walking, cleaning the kennels and the rooms, and played with them. She’s a little wiped out, and needs a break.

It’s no surprised when the phone rings at exactly 12:30pm. She reaches over and answers, “Yes, Derek, I’ve managed to finish all of the morning chores before I sat my fine ass on the front chair.”

“Cora,” Derek says, a frown clearly on his voice. “It’s _your_  shelter. I don’t need to check up on you - but I was calling because Scott -”

“Yes, Little Pippa is doing well. She licked my face and ran around in circles after her tail,” Cora answers before Derek can finish his sentence. “You can tell your handsome boyfriend he’s a miracle worker.”

Derek lets out a little grunt. “Cora–”

“You’re not dating, he’s not your boyfriend, yeah yeah yeah. Anyway, just let him know that Pippa’s great and on the mend. She ate and drank some water and she even sat down for me.”

“Thanks, Cor.”

“How’s the never-dying crush on Scott McCall going for you?” Cora asks, flipping another page in her trashy magazine. She smiles when she can practically _see_  Derek rolling his eyes about his little sister and her ~~annoying~~ loving quirks.

Derek makes some shuffling noise and then, his voice is quieter when he says, “Cora, _seriously._  I don’t have…I can’t…I don’t want to talk about this right now.”

It’s the first time that Derek’s ever acknowledged that he has feelings for Scott. She raises her eyebrows and whistles. She knows her brother must be freaking out right now, so instead of teasing him, she simply says, “You know, big brother, you’re pretty wonderful and Scott’s a lucky man if he ever opens his eyes and sees what’s right in front of him.”

“Yeah, yeah - Cora, I have a –”

“Customer,” Cora says, startled when the door opens. She pulls her feet off the table, closes the magazine, and says, “I gotta go.”

“Love you!”

“Love you,” Cora murmurs. She puts her phone down, stands up, and smiles. The woman who just walked in is absolutely stunning. Cora’s lips part and she tugs her shirt down. Fuck. Beacon Hills doesn’t have a lot of attractive people that Cora doesn’t know or hasn’t already slept with…but this woman is a goddess. “Hi there! Welcome to Hale Shelters. How can I help you today?”

The woman smiles tentatively. There’s emotions brewing in her eyes, but she just nods politely. “Hi. I don’t know. I’m just–I–wow, okay. Sorry. I thought I was ready for this.”

Cora knows that heartbroken voice. She comes around the counter and offers the woman a small touch on the arm for comfort. “It’s okay. There’s no need to rush into finding a new pet once you’ve lost one. You can feel guilt free coming to look at these guys who are here, okay? You don’t need to take one home. You can just offer them a few minutes of attention and it’ll mean the world to them.”

“Wow, okay. Thanks. I needed that. My mom told me that my dog growing up in high school - Prada - passed away last week. I came home as soon as I could, to be honest. She was part of my family. And my mom misses having a friend around, so she told me I should pick someone out for her since I found Prada,” the woman says. Her voice cracks slightly.

“It’s okay. Do you want to sit out here for a bit?” Cora asks.

The woman shakes her head. “No, no. I have to be strong for my mom. She needs someone to have around the house. It’s lonely for her without anyone around. Thanks for being so kind…?”

“Cora.”

“Lydia,” she offers, holding her hand out. Cora takes it gently in hers and shakes it carefully. She lingers for a bit too long, but there’s something about Lydia’s skin that makes hers tingle. “Okay. To the dogs?”

“Alright,” Cora says. “Did you want to talk about Prada at all?”

“No, um. It’s still really fresh for me,” Lydia admits. “Do you have any puppies?”

“I do. We actually have two different litters. One of the mothers passed away after being hit by a car. The puppies from her litter are still really tiny. But they’re strong and fighters. They could definitely use some love,” Cora tells her. She pauses to request that Lydia sanitizes her hands before leading her into a small room.

She leads Lydia over to the fenced in area on the floor. She pulls up a chair for Lydia to sit in, but she decides to sit on the floor instead. Lydia coos over the puppies, a smile lighting up her face.

“Oh my gosh, Cora! They’re so tiny.”

“Yeah. They take a lot of work. But me and my brothers and a friend of ours, who is a vet, have been rotating taking turns with them. You have to keep them on a strict feeding schedule, make sure they’re the right temperature - you don’t want them to be too cold, too hot - and give them lots of love. But they’re worth it,” Cora tells her.

“How old are they?”

“Only two weeks,” Cora answers. “This one is Jax. The one with the black dot on her back is Trixie. We called this little guy Mouth. He sleeps with his mouth open. That little pup over there is Lizzie.”

“I think I’ve already fallen in love with Mouth,” Lydia murmurs. “Can I–?”

“Of course!” Cora bends down into the kennel and scoops up Mouth. She gently hands him off to Lydia who smiles down at him.

They sit like that for a bit. They talk. Cora learns that while Lydia only lives three hours away, she hasn’t been back in Beacon Hills in _two_  years minus one Thanksgiving. Cora tells her it’s a shame because she thinks she’d like having Lydia around more. They learn that Lydia and Derek were in the same grade as one another - and had both competed for valedictorian. Cora’s listening to Lydia talk about her prestigious job as a lawyer as they walk into the next room where she introduces her to Pippa - the dog that had recently had surgery.

“Oh my gosh!” Lydia bends down to give Pippa some good head scratches. Cora leans against the wall and smiles at her. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say she’s in love already.

Lydia doesn’t leave that day with a dog. She says she has to think about it.

Cora doesn’t mind. It means she’ll get to see Lydia again.

 

**_xxx_ **

 

It’s not a surprise that Lydia eventually caves and takes Pippa home with her for her mother. What _is_  a surprise is the fact that she starts showing up at 7pm at night to spend an hour with the orphaned puppies. She sits in the room with them, unsupervised at this point, and gives them kisses and love. She comes enough that the puppies start to _expect_  her attention. Hell, even Cora does now.

She gives Lydia a quick hug one Tuesday night before Lydia makes her way in to see the puppies. Cora continues tidying up the front of the shelter before she moves the Open sign to Closed. She makes her way to the back and joins Lydia, who is cradling Mouth in her arms.

“You know he’s yours, right?” Cora asks after a moment.

Lydia shakes her head. “He isn’t. I just want him to feel some love…I couldn’t take him home.”

Cora raises an eyebrow. “Lydia, you travel _three_  hours out of your way after work twice a week and then _three_  hours home…just to spend some time with him. You can take him home.”

“He’s, um, he’s not the only reason I come here,” Lydia admits. She flashes her eyes to Cora’s. “It might also have something to do with the fact that the owner of the shelter is also really cute.”

Cora laughs. “Wow, okay. I kind of assumed but you were super shy about it!”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve dated!” Lydia defends. “I’m a lawyer. I’m busy. I don’t…I don’t get out too much. This is probably the closest I’ve come to dating in five years.”

Cora shoots Lydia a grin, and she joins Lydia on the floor. “Oh yeah? Well, I’m glad you think that I’m worth coming out of hiding.”

Lydia teasingly shoves her. “You’re embarrassing me.”

“Yeah. My brother says I do that to him a lot. He just started dating his longtime crush after like four years of pining from afar…I don’t want to be like that, so I’ll be upfront with you. I like you. A lot. I would like to get to know you better outside of this shelter.”

“Me too. I don’t want to wait anymore,” Lydia murmurs. “I feel like I’ve been putting my life on hold for my career, and I don’t want to do that. I want to get to know you better too.”

Cora beams and leans forward. She puts her hand on Lydia’s cheek and pulls her face a little closer. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Lydia whispers before she leans in to press her lips against Cora’s.

 

**_xxx_ **


End file.
